June 27, 2012

Rainy weather makes Estonians buy holiday trips

The rainy summer weather forecast has boosted the sale of last minute beach holiday trips in Southern Europe and direct flights from Estonia to the Southern resorts are practically sold out for this summer, LETA/Postimees reports.

"When it rains, the sale of last minute trips is very good and as soon as the sun comes out, sales fall. June has been quite good for us," said Estravel marketing manager Mari-Liis Rüütsalu, who said that there are a few tickets for trips in the next few weeks but there are also flights that are sold out. "If this weather continues, they aren’t available for long," said Rüütsalu. "Our travel consultants have a very busy time."

Novatours' marketing manager Olev Riisberg also said that no special campaign, favourable price or marketing tricks can sell as many trips as "the bad skiing weather" as a rainy summer in Estonia is called, can.

"The season is in full gear and those who wanted to wait for a last minute offer, have had to choose from a very small selection or have been deprived of a trip altogether," said Riisberg.

Travel agency Reisiekspert CEO Sven Lõokene said also that direct flights from Estonia to the South are practically sold out and the few last minute offers can even cost more than they would normally. He added though that people can look for offers from Finnish agencies or put together a private trip.

Estonians prefer destinations where one can fly to directly from Tallinn, i.e. Turkey, Crete and Bulgaria. Novatours' marketing manager Olev Riisberg estimates that Turkey is still the most popular destination in summer but as compared to 2011, the amount of people travelling to Bulgaria has increased by a fourth.